Insomniac Finished With Resistance Games January 28, 2012

Ladies and gentlemen, Ted Price.

So that’s it folks, the end of a gaming era is here.  The three PS3 Resistance games, as well as the Resistance property itself was all created by Insomniac Studios, and now they’re making it official that Resistance 3 was the final game in the Resistance series that they will be working on.  The property is in the hands of Sony and currently Nihilistic, who is developing a new handheld Resistance game for the Sony Vita.

I know this had made news in the past few days, but I wasn’t willing to post it up here unless there was some sort of official confirmation about it.  When this was posted it met my requirements of “official confirmation”.  As far as I’m concerned, Insomniac is the reason why so many people picked up a Playstation 3 at launch, and I still consider the original Resistance: Fall of Man to have some of the best multiplayer on the PS3.

Good luck to Insomniac with all their future game developments.  They are really good at their jobs.  Here, here.

Alan Wake PC Release Date and System Requirements January 27, 2012

The PC release of Alan Wake is getting closer and closer.  Here are the final system requirements for the game.

OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7

PROCESSOR:A dual core processor is required:

• AMD: Athlon X2 2.8GHz
• Intel: Core 2 Duo 2GHz

MEMORY: 2 GB

HARD DRIVE: 8 GB

VIDEO CARD:DirectX 10 compatible or later with 512MB RAM

• AMD: ATI Radeon 3650, 4450, 5550, 6450 or higher (per series)
• NVIDIA: GeForce 8600GT, 9500GT, GT120, GT430, GT520 (per series)

SOUND CARD: DirectX 9.0c compatible

INPUT: Mouse and keyboard, Xbox360 controller also supported

The game will be downloadable through Steam, and you can expect it to take full advantage of Steam’s features.  It will not support the Games for Windows platform.  However, there are some pretty sweet features that the PC game will have.  A cool little PC feature is you will be able to play Alan Wake on multiple monitors, perfect for extreme widescreen aficionados.  It is also compatible with Nvidia’s 3D technology, but is very resource demanding, you’ll need a top of the line GPU to take full advantage of it.

Alan Wake is Coming February, 2012 to PC.  Both DLC episodes will be also released alongside the game.

Steam Mobile App Released January 27, 2012

Valve has done quite a suprising thing and released their own Steam application for iOS and Android.  With it, Steam users will be able to access their friends list, read news and chat while on the go.

I wasn’t expecting Valve to do this, but it does make sense.  The fact is that Microsoft has already released a similiar program worldwide to allow mobile access to Xbox Live, and Sony has also released a similiar application for the Playstation Network (although it has not come to North America yet).  Valve obviously intends to continue to extend Steam accessibility past the PC.  We’ve already seen them release console games that have Steam connectivity (Portal 2 for the PS3) and it looks like this is the next volley to continue that expansion.

However, don’t expect to be able to use the program just by downloading it.  Valve is currently not accepting all users into testing this app right now, but if you want a chance at joining this program in beta testing, you will need to have a Steam account and download the program to your mobile device of choice.  Once you log into the app for the first time you will need to verify your device by e-mail, and Valve will add your account to the list of possible beta testers.

You can grab the iOS version here and the Android version here.

The Darkness II Launch Trailer and System Requirements January 26, 2012

2KGames has released a pretty bad-assed CGI launch trailer for The Darkness II, which, while is completely pre-rendered, captures the feel of the game quite well.  You can clearly see the extent of the powers of the Darkness and what emotional baggage Jackie is bringing with him this time around.

The Darkness II is coming Feb 7th, 2012 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.  Here are the PC system requirements.

Minimum:

• OS:Windows XP/Vista/7
• Processor:Intel Core 2 @ 2GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
• Memory:1.5GB RAM
• Hard Disk Space:10GB
• Video Card:256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600 / ATI Radeon HD 2600
• Sound:DirectX Compatible
• Additional: Requires installation of Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable, DirectX and nVidia PhysX version 9.11.1107 (included with download)

Recommended:

• OS:Windows XP/Vista/7
• Processor:2.4 GHz Quad Core processor
• Memory:2GB RAM
• Hard Disk Space:10GB
• Video Card:512+ MB NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX
• Sound:DirectX Compatible
• Additional: Requires installation of Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable, DirectX and nVidia PhysX version 9.11.1107 (included with download)

The PC version of the game will require STEAM.  If you want to check out how the game runs on your PC before its released, you can download a playable demo through the STEAM marketplace free of charge.

If you’re interested in knowing more about The Darkness II, 2K Games will be streaming the first hour of the game here at 4PM PST today.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare Release Date January 24, 2012

Major Nelson has officially announced the release details for Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, as well as a few other games that will be released next month through Xbox Live Arcade.

There’s been a lot of buzz about the game since it’s preview at this year’s Consumer Electronic’s Show.  All the gameplay of Alan Wake returns.  The game will also feature both licensed music and new music exclusive to the game, including a brand new single by The Old Gods of Asgard (who sound eerily similar to Poets of the Fall, wink wink).  The game’s storyline promises a four hour campaign storyline and a separate game mode called Fight ‘Till Dawn, where you’ll have to defend yourself against respawning enemies until the sun rises.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, developed by Remedy, the creators of Alan Wake and Max Payne, will be released February 22nd, 2012 exclusive to the Xbox Live Arcade.  The final cost of the game will be 1200 Microsoft Points or $15US.  Since this is an Xbox Live Arcade release, there will be a free demo/trial version of the game released alongside the full version.

Quakecon 2012 Dates Announced January 24, 2012

The official Quakecon site has announced that the 2012 Quakecon will take place August 2nd-5th, 2012 at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas.

Quakecon is the yearly event which is a celebration of all things id Software created. There is always a major bring your own computer gaming tournament, and previews for upcoming games.  Best of all it is free and open to the public. In order to participate in any competition you simply just need to register. Signups are not yet posted, but I’ll be sure to keep you all posted on when they do.

The Darkness II Demo Announced January 12, 2012

The official 2K Games Twitter Feed has announced that The Darkness II will see a demo release starting January 17th.

It will release worldwide on the Xbox Live Marketplace and Gold Subscribers will get access to it on January 17th.  On Tuesday the 24th, it will be released on the North American Playstation Network and Worldwide for the PC through Steam.  This will also be the day free Xbox Live accounts will be able to download the demo.  Worldwide Playstation Network release will follow on the 25th.  You can read all the specific platform details here on their official website.

I was lucky enough to play The Darkness II while at the New York Comic Con and had a lot of fun with it.  I have no idea what part of the game the demo will show off but if it’s anything like what I demoed earlier I’m sure a lot of people will enjoy it.

The Darkness II will release Feb 2012 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare CES 2012 Details January 12, 2012

Remedy has been showing off Alan Wake’s American Nightmare at the Consumer Electronics Show this year and some new details has been released about the upcoming game.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is a standalone game which will have a single player campaign length similar to one episode of the original game (or of a DLC episode).  In it, Alan finds himself trapped in Arizona in a story he wrote for the Night Springs television series.  The game’s visuals and engine has been improved in a lot of ways.  The enviroments are far more destructive, but the traditional fight with light gameplay is completely intact.

Completing the single-player game is expected to take about four to five hours, but that is not all that’s included with the game.  American Nightmare will also include a Fight Till Dawn mode, which will feature ten minute segments (similiar to Horde Mode) where you will need to survive against waves of enemies until dawn rises.  If you complete all the maps in the mode you will unlock a hardcore mode.

Since the game is going to be released through Xbox Live Arcade, you can expect there to be a demo or more appropriately a trial version you can unlock to the full version.

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare is coming Feb 2012 exclusive to the Xbox Live Arcade.